March 16, 2016

Emerging from his meeting with President
Obama at the White House on Thursday, March 10th, newly-elected Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau announced
that for the first time in over a decade, the two nations’ leaders share a
“common goal” regarding climate change. “We want a clean growth economy that
continues to provide good jobs and great opportunities for all of our
citizens,” said Prime Minister Trudeau. “And I am confident that by working
together we will get there sooner than we think.” Prime Minister Trudeau’s
speech also referenced his and Obama’s intention to sign the Paris Agreement on
climate change, reduce methane and hydrofluorocarbon emissions in both
countries, and introduce aligned greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy
duty vehicles.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Trudeau
also took action on climate change at home with the Vancouver
Declaration, an agreement between the Canadian federal government and the
provincial premiers (the ‘governors’ of Canada’s ‘states’) in which the parties
agreed to make a coordinated effort to support climate change mitigation and
adaptation through investments in green infrastructure (including doubling
investments in clean energy, research and development over five years), public
transit and energy efficiency. The agreement marked a sea change in Canadian
federal environmental policy. During former-Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s
years in office between 2006 and late 2015, the Canadian federal government was
known for being completely
intransigent on climate action even as various provinces embarked on
independent environmental initiatives, including the introduction of carbon
pricing schemes in Quebec and British Columbia.

During the lead-up to the last election,
Prime Minister Trudeau’s loyalty to the climate movement was mired in a level
of ambiguity. His time as a member of the Canadian parliament was marked by a streak
of pro-environmentalism, but his stance
in favor of the notorious Keystone XL pipeline inspired many Canadian
environmentalists’ skepticism. Since taking office in November though, the
Prime Minister’s actions and strong words on climate
action have dispelled at least some of the doubts surrounding his devotion to tackling
the issue.